Young Justice: Invasion: Missing in Action
by William Ice
Summary: January 1, 2016, five years after the incident of the Justice League's missing 16 hours, Lobo's bounty hunt for the Krolotean both shocked and confused the Team. However, the next recorded date for the Team's own interactions was the third day of January. What exactly happened on January 2, 2016? Did they have their own missing 24 hours? Young Justice and my own Original Characters
1. Missing in Action

**Chapter 1: Missing in Action**

(Unfortunately, I must admit that this chapter is a little slow... But as soon as you get to Chapter 2, I promise it picks up instantly!

I hope you enjoy my first attempt at a Fanfiction.

**As much as I wish I could, I do not own Young Justice. Any other characters, however, are mine.)**

It was January 2, 2016, five years after Vandal Savage's attack on the Justice League, in attempt at full control of the heroes. The Team was gathered in Mount Justice, as Nightwing discussed what Wonder Girl and Batgirl had uncovered the day before.

"So let's review," he said, breaking the long silence. "This "Lobo" seems to have come from a different planet, and captured this creature, who had been acting as Secretary General Tseng." Batgirl nodded. "There is one weird thing though," she added. "He came here only to recover that alien, and left, with no other notable motives."

"It seems that he's some kind of bounty hunter…" Robin said, typing away on the computer. Everyone gathered around him and watched the screen intently, as an encoded criminal record interface began to appear across the Cave. Obviously this record was not a file from Earth. "I guess his orders were just to retrieve the alien and leave."

"Can you gather anymore intel about him?" Nightwing asked. He had to admit, Tim Drake's hacking skills were quite impressive. As much experience he had earned from his days as Robin, he doubted even he would have been able to hack into coded alien tech.

"Not sure," Robin said, obviously not as confident in his abilities as Nightwing was. "But I'll do what I can."

His fingers flew across the holographic keyboard, information whizzing all over the screen. There was just one more odd firewall he had to get past.

He cracked his knuckles, and began carefully configuring the system's encoding, as precisely as he could. Cautiously, he began to enter the final sequence.

In a change of destiny, a bump in the time-space continuum, or simply by the Will of God Himself, a tiny speck of dust, smaller than even noticeable to the naked eye, fell from the air and landed just under Superboy's nose.

He looked troubled, making an odd face. "Superboy?" Wonder Girl asked. "Are you okay?" He tried to say yes, but instead released a huge:

"AH-CHOO!" which shook the cave, causing everyone to stumble.

The tremor jerked Robin forward rapidly, smashing his left hand into the keyboard, hitting one key too many.

"No!" he cried, as all of the information on Lobo disappeared, piece by piece. The entire cave seemed to shut down even. "Robin, I'm sorry..." Superboy began. But something was off... There was one key eerily glowing on the keyboard. "Okay..." Beast Boy asked, "What's up with that?"

Robin looked up at the screen. "I don't know..." he admitted. "I guess it must be a reset button."

And he pressed it, beginning something the entire Team never could have expected. "Recognizing: Nightwing, B-0-1. Beast Boy, B-1-9. Bumblebee, B-1-7. Blue Beetle, B-2-2. Miss Martian, B-0-5. Robin, B-2-0. Superboy, B-0-4." The computer made a whirring sound, and continued. "Also recognized. Batgirl: Authorized. Wonder Girl: Authorized. Lagoon Boy: Authorized. Not in vicinity: Red Arrow."

"In vicinity of what?" Nightwing asked. Robin shrugged. "I'm not even entirely sure what it's doing."

The computer screen began to pinpoint locations. "Recognized: Paso Alto. Kid Flash: B-0-3. Artemis: B-0-7." In a bright flash, the two were "Zeta-ed" into the Cave. "What's going on?" Wally asked. Everyone else was too shocked to reply.

"Recognized: Watchtower. Zatanna: 2-5. Rocket 2-6."

The two instantly appeared in the Cave as well. "Robin, turn it off!" Nightwing commanded. "I can't!" he replied. "The system shut me out!"

"Final Recognition. Aqualad: B-0-2." Nightwing's eyes opened wide in disbelief as Aqualad, in his Manta Ray armor suddenly appeared beside him.

Before anyone could say a word, "Recognition complete. Team assembled. Commencing complete molecular transportation."

"WHAT?!" everyone cried as a bright light exploded around them, sucking everyone inside and disappearing.

When the team awoke, they quickly realized they weren't in the Cave anymore. "Robin," Nightwing called, "What happened? Where are we?"

Robin rubbed his forehead, still slightly dazed by the brightness of the flash. "I-I don't know..." he said, shaken up. "Uh, Nightwing?" Superboy said uneasily. "It looks like Washington D.C."

As the team got up, they could make out the Washington Monument from across the vast body of water in front of them. "Something's up." Nightwing deduced. "Thank you, Mr. Genius..." Batgirl joked.

"No," Nightwing continued. "Why did the computer transport people we haven't even seen in years to the same location as us?"

"Well," Miss Martian suggested. "Maybe since it was a system reset, it recognized everyone who lived there..."

"No way..." Robin said, tapping on a holographic PDA. "What is it?" Nightwing asked calmly. "You're going to think I'm crazy..." he said, "But I don't think we're on Earth. At least not the one we're familiar with." He looked up at the sky covered in dark clouds.

"We're in a different dimension."


	2. A Whole New World

Just as everyone's jaw dropped in shock, an explosion rang out in the air. "Get down!" Nightwing cried as the team hit the ground. Something was about to happen, Nightwing could tell.

"This is my world!" a sinister, warped voice bellowed in the sky. "No one is strong enough to stop me!" Everyone looked up to see a muscular creature, with black metallic skin and a red mark across its chest which looked like writing. His head was covered by long, dark red hair, and his eyes were glowing bright red.

"Maybe we're here for a reason!" Wonder Girl cried, launching herself into the air towards the creature. "Cassie, wait!" Batgirl cried.

"Who are you?" it snarled as Wonder Girl got closer. "Maybe you don't know me around here," she said, aiming a punch, "But back home, they call me Wonder Girl!"

She swung her right fist at him with everything she had. A loud, metal ringing sound erupted, as if someone had hit a pot with a spoon.

Wonder Girl's fist was right on the monster's jaw, but he hadn't even flinched. "N-nothing?!" she said in disbelief. The creature turned and looked at her.

"I don't like BUGS!" he cried, hitting her with a punch that the others barely even saw occur. She was knocked unconscious right there in the air, as she hurtled towards the ground.

"I got her!" Wally yelled as he sped to where she would land. "Do you guys hear that?" Superboy asked. "Hear wh-" Nightwing began. He was cut off when something flew right above them, the shockwave knocking everyone down. Whatever it was, it shot past Wally, and rocketed into the sky, catching Wonder Girl.

"What is that...?" Blue Beetle said in awe. He made a confused face. "Really? A superhero? From here?" he seemed to say to no one. "And there are four more?" Everyone looked at him with disbelief. "A superhero?" Beast Boy asked. "And there are four more?" Bumblebee finished.

Just then, four more trails of light flew overhead, splitting to surround the creature. The first one, who had caught Cassie, landed next to Nightwing.

"I take it she's with you guys?" he asked, the light around him dissipating, revealing himself to be an African American teen. He gave Wonder Girl to Nightwing.

"He's...a kid?" Kid Flash asked, stopping next to Nightwing. The boy smiled. "More or less." he said. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt with an unbuttoned green t-shirt over it, black jeans, and black shoes. Around his neck he wore a necklace of Jesus on the cross, which seemed to be glowing.

He nodded to the Team and disappeared. "Where did he-?" Superboy asked. Suddenly, the boy was with the other four around the monster. Nightwing then realized that _all_ of them were kids!

"Alright Anger," a light skinned Hispanic girl said to the creature. "Calm down." She was very lean and a bit short for her age, but you could tell by her posture that she was also very strong. She had brown hair with a reddish tint, and was wearing a pink tank top with a long sleeved short green shirt on top. She also had black jeans, and was wearing short green boots.

"You dare tell me to calm down?!" Anger yelled. Roaring, he flew at her, ready to smash her down with his fist. "Watch out!" Artemis cried from below. "He's going to hurt you like he did to Wonder Girl!"

However, the girl remained unfazed. "I can't watch..." Miss Martian said, closing her eyes.  
There was a huge crack, and the thought of what the sound could have been almost made Wally puke.

Reluctantly, the team looked up. Somehow, the girl had caught Anger's fist with one arm, and had sent a swift jab into his chest with her other elbow, which was buried somewhere in his body.

"What the..." Lagoon Boy breathed. "Incredible..." Batgirl whispered.

"I warned you..." the girl smiled sweetly at Anger. Suddenly, she was behind him, and slammed her two fists on his head, sending him flying down into the Potomac River.

Nightwing smiled. Whoever these kids were, there was something about them he liked.

The girl landed in front of the team and looked down at Wonder Girl. "Is your friend okay?" she asked shyly. "I think she might need medical attention." Miss Martian said. "Maybe I can help?" the girl suggested quietly.

She rested her hand on Wonder Girl's head, and closed her eyes. Slowly, a warm white glow began to surround her, and traveled to Wonder Girl. Her bruises began to disappear, and soon, she opened her eyes.

"H-how did you do that?" she asked. "Thank you!"

The girl smiled, and said "You're welcome."

Aqualad stepped forward, and asked, "Is this your power?" She looked at him for a second,

and answered. "Well, it's complicated. You see, I-"

A bright red flash erupted from the water, a beam of energy headed straight for the girl. "Look out!" Nightwing cried. But before anyone could react, the boy from before appeared behind his friend and blocked the attack.

"Hyah!" he cried, somehow punching the blast back into the ocean. The water bubbled, and exploded, as Anger flew out, his body becoming bigger. "You two!" he cried, breathing heavily and pointing to both the boy and girl, "I'm going to kill you!"

"Not today." a voice teased. Suddenly, a young African American girl was right in front of Anger, arms crossed. "What?" he cried, slashing the air in front of him.

"What are you doing?" that same girl asked Anger. Yet somehow, she was now in front of Wally. "Ah!" he jumped. The girl didn't look any older than 14, and was wearing a red, dressy looking shirt with a black belt in the middle, with a black leather jacket on top. She had on black skinny jeans, and red hightops. She smiled at Wally. "Hi." she laughed.

"Take this!" Anger cried, launching a barrage of fireballs at her, and the team next to her. "What?!" Wally cried. But the girl was gone, and suddenly, the fireballs simply disappeared.

"Nice trick." she said. Anger spun around. The girl was right behind him again! "Whoa..." Wally said. "I think she might be faster than me..." he admitted.

Anger roared, hating to be toyed with. He lunged at the girl, ready to rip her apart, when two voices cried, "Super Thunderbolt!"

The sky became pitch-black, and one monster thunderbolt fell from the clouds with an ear piercing whistle. The girl appeared on the ground again and said, "Cover your eyes and ears, my little sister and Chris go all out with this one."

The second everyone did, there was a brilliant flash of light and an ear splitting explosion. "Aghhh!" Superboy cried, his heightened senses having become a liability.

His eyes were suddenly covered and his ears blocked, and he knew how. As soon as the light disappeared, and the sonic boom died out, everyone got back up in disbelief.

"That was so powerful..." Zatanna said, "Even my thunderbolts can't do that."

Superboy glanced at Miss Martian, who smiled. He nodded, thanking her for the extra protection, but then immediately turned away. Anger, who was now sparking wildly due to his major electrocution, looked down at everyone. In a last attempt, he lifted his finger and fired one extremely thin blast of dark energy at them, too small to even see unless you knew he was firing it.

Superboy just barely heard it coming. "Guys, watch out!" he yelled. All 5 of the other kids, however, were more than aware of the attack. They all leapt into action.

The first boy swatted the beam away, launching it into the sky, where it exploded loudly. The fast young girl appeared above Anger and slammed her foot down on his head, sending him flying downwards. The boy and girl who had done the lightning attack, a Hispanic boy and a very small African American girl, rushed at Anger, and lifted the ocean up, wrapping him in a wave of water. Finally, the oldest girl, who had healed Wonder Girl, flew at Anger at breakneck speed, sending one final punch into his stomach. His jaw dropped, as he couldn't even speak.

She continued flying, dragging him along the ocean, and finally, launched him high into the air.

"He's all yours, Lizzie!" the boy called. She smiled, extending one hand at the creature, who had begun to fall back towards her. "You should have learned that if you can't control your anger, you make yourself a lot more vulnerable."

Her hand was illuminated by bright yellow light, and she released it all straight into the sky, destroying Anger, and the dark clouds that had come with his presence, revealing the bright, warm sun.

As the kids landed in front of Nightwing's team, he smiled. "I think we have a lot to talk about."


	3. The Story of the Z Force

Beast Boy was the one to say what everyone was thinking. "You guys are awesome!" he exclaimed. Miss Martian pulled him aside. "Sorry," she smiled to the other team, "One sec."

She mentally linked her friends, and looked at Nightwing. _"Thanks, Miss M."_ he said.

_"Now," _Nightwing continued. _"From the looks of it, these kids are definitely the good guys."_

_"Heck yeah!" _Wally spoke.

_"But we still don't know anything about them." _Nightwing scolded. _"It would be nice to trust them, but we don't know where they came from, if they work for anyone, what this world is like, why we're even here… It's just too—"_

_"Overwhelming?" _an unfamiliar voice interrupted.

Shocked, the team turned to see the five kids looking directly at them. Miss Martian was uneasy as she asked, _"You guys can hear this, can't you?"_

They all nodded slowly.

_"__Slightly__ awkward." _Artemis joked.

"We can explain everything you want us to." The older girl smiled.

The team looked at Nightwing. He shrugged, grinning. "Why not."

The five kids led the Team to the White House. "Uh," Wally questioned. "You guys didn't take over the White House, did you?"

The youngest two laughed, but didn't answer. Wally whispered to Artemis, "Was that a yes?"

Artemis elbowed him in the stomach, shaking her head.

The kids led them inside, and made their way to the Oval Office, where they sat down in seats around the Presidential Desk. Surprisingly, there was no one else in the entire building. In fact, they hadn't seen a single civilian the whole time they had been there.

"So, how exactly did you guys get access to this place?" Nightwing asked as he and the Team sat down in chairs in front of the desk.

"We'll start from the very beginning." the oldest girl said. The boy in the green, who had taken a seat next to her, nodded.

"My name is William." he began. "You could say our story began about 8 years ago. I'm 15 now, so this was when i was 7 years old. I was outside with my sisters, Pearl, who is 13," The incredibly fast girl waved. "And Hannah who is 10, but was just about 3 years old when this all started." The smaller girl who had done part of the lightning attack smiled at the Team.

"She's so cute!" Miss Martian exclaimed. "Not when she's mad." William laughed.

"One day, we were outside playing around, when a comet fell from the sky and hit us, and gave us all strange abilities."

"Typical hero story," Wally grinned. "That's what we thought also," William said, "But you'll see what it really was.

That day, Hannah received control over fire; Pearl had elasticity abilities and a surplus of intelligence, and I could become invisible and create force fields."

"Awesome..." Beast Boy said, deep into the story.

"I was oldest," William continued.

"So I designated myself as leader. I guess I just assumed it was the most rational idea. Anyway, back in those days, everything was easy, mainly stopping robberies and murders. Our biggest enemy was, believe it or not, an evil talking toilet."

Everyone looked at each other, and burst into laughter, even William, Hannah and Pearl trying not to.

"He was more of just a menace to society than a mastermind enemy." William smiled.

"As we got older, when I was about 12, we found out that we were being watched by three dragons, one of fire, one of nature, and one of water. They were dying, and needed their powers to live on, so they granted those powers to the three they had deemed worthy, me and my little sisters."

"Wow..." Rocket whispered.

"I received the power of the dragon's fire, Pearl received the power of nature, and Hannah earned control over water. For a long time, we learned to control these new abilities, and defended ourselves against some wizards and evil creatures called Amarangs, who wanted to destroy us and take the ancient powers to wreak havoc and chaos all over Earth.

We were strong, but the main wizards were getting even more powerful. Soon, we found a little boy; he was 7, a year younger than Hannah at the time. He was an orphan and had no family. When some Amarangs tried to hurt his dog, he became angry, and beat them away, using the ancient power of heart, or as we call it, the Force of Life."

"That sounds amazing..." Wonder Girl said quietly.

"It is..." William replied, smiling. "Benny was by far the strongest of us, as long as he could control his emotions. Soon, the strongest of the wizards summoned an evil creature called the Elemental Heartless. It was one of our biggest powerhouse opponents.

At the time it arrived, Benny had gone to his home planet, which we had discovered in an ancient scroll, to get extra training. We were defeated by the Heartless, but when Benny got back, he saved us, and we finally regrouped somewhere safe.

At this point, we had friends from different planets, our main ones being Jessica Ice from Charconia, Isabella Hurricane from the planet Storm, and Janessa Charge from the planet Speed. They are important, so remember them."

"Noted!" Beast Boy exclaimed, on the edge of his chair.

"So, they came to help us, and we managed to beat the Titan Monsters the Elemental Heartless had summoned. But it still wasn't enough. We had learned years before that a man named Zion Tallius had meant for the comet to hit us when we were young, because he knew we were the ones who could save the world. I had to find him, and get as much extra training as I could.

Obviously, I did the most reasonable thing I could think of. I asked Jessica to kill me and freeze my body, because that was the only way Zion could sense that I needed his help.

So after some convincing, Jessica went-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Superboy interrupted, "So your friend killed you? Just like that?"

"It's complicated..." William admitted. "But I will explain sometime soon. So after she did, Jessica went to fight the Heartless as I was training with Zion. But eventually, I noticed that I couldn't sense my sisters or friends anymore. So even though my training wasn't done, I rushed back to Earth, but Elemental Heartless had already gotten them. I don't know how, but this "Rage Mode" overtook my body, and I ended up beating Heartless to a pulp.

Suddenly, Heartless' own master appeared, and destroyed him for me... He said that Heartless was useless. He looked at me and said he wanted to fight, but not just then. He said that in seven months I would be strong enough to fight him. So he left, after saying that his name was Skullkus."

William had a faraway look in his eyes. "And that began a whole new world for us."


	4. The Birth of the Z Force

When I went back to Zion Tallius, everyone was there waiting. I told them we were going to get as strong as possible for the next seven months. That was when Zion told Jessica, Isabella and Janessa to go back home, and that he had to talk to just me and my sisters.

He told us that although he had said the comet was what gave us our powers, it wasn't true. He said that we had possessed our powers all along, but we just needed something to help us realize it. When he sent the comet, he was just giving us a sort of wake up call."

"So you guys had your powers at birth?" Zatanna asked. William nodded.

"Zion told us that our abilities came from our mom, who somehow has the power to give power. When we were born, somehow, her family roots could be traced back to 3 different planets."

"Storm, Speed, and Charconia?" Batgirl asked.

"Exactly. I inherited my mother's Charconian gene, Pearl, the Speedian gene, and Hannah, the Stormian gene."

"Wait," Superboy said, eyes wide, "You have both human and alien DNA?" William nodded.

Superboy continued. "Do you suppress your human DNA for full control of your powers?" William thought for a second. "Possibly, that could have been how we did it before." he smiled.

A look of awe came across Superboy's face, as he realized what this could mean for himself. Nightwing eyed his friend suspiciously, already with an idea of what he was thinking.

"Zion told us about how our powers worked, and how they came in stages. Stage T was our discovery and first powers, Stage X was new inherited powers, like the ones from the ancient dragons, and Stage Zeta, or Z, was our strongest level of power, The Z-Force. In this stage, our planetary powers would be unlocked, and we would be on our way to becoming the strongest we could become. He told us we were now entering the Z-Stage, and that he would train us to unlock our planetary powers.

In the seven months of training, I started to suspect that even though Benny was from the planet Raxnus, he might have had Charconian roots also. After 5 months, Zion had taught us all he could. Hannah was learning to control weather and storms with a finger, Pearl was one of the fastest living beings in the universe, and I was working on unlocking full Charconian power."

"What exactly is a Charconian's power?" Robin asked, looking very intrigued.

"Let me show you." William said.

He closed his eyes, and seemed to concentrate, as Lizzie got up and opened a window. Suddenly, the temperature dropped substantially; Nightwing was surprised to see his breath inside. The Team looked out the window in amazement.

The entire district had frozen over, and was covered in solid ice.

"Wow..." Wonder Girl breathed, shivering. "Your power is ice?"

"Well that's my planetary power, yes," William said. "All Charconians possess the powers of cryogenics and ice storms. I guess it's kind of a naturally inherited thing, since Charconia is 98% ice. In fact, the planet is 600 degrees below zero in the summer, when it's really hot there."

No one really knew what to say to that.

"For the final two months, Zion told us to go back to Earth and train ourselves. After that time was up, Jessica called me from Charconia, and asked me to come.

That was when she told me she was my opposite."

"What's an opposite?" Blue Beetle asked.

William looked troubled.

"Well..." he said, thinking of the easiest way to explain. "That's sort of a stretch. It's extremely complicated..."

Blue Beetle nodded. "It's alright, hermano." he said.

"Just think of it as a god brother or god sister, but also as a twin, yet with AND without familial relations." William attempted, but worried that he had confused them more.

"Basically, her parents were in a way, my parents, and vice versa... So in essence, since her parents are king and queen of the planet, this made me prince. I'm not sure what the ancient story behind opposites is, but every Charconian has one."

He turned to his friend, the girl who was around his age. "Lizzie," he said, "is 16. She is Charconian also, because her dad somehow had the Charconian ancestral gene too. I'll tell you about her soon."

Lizzie smiled at the Team shyly.

"The same sort of opposite thing applies to Hannah and Pearl." William carried on. "With Hannah, Isabella is her "opposite figure," as Janessa is to Pearl."

"That sounds cool..." Robin said. "What are the genetic similarities between you and your opposite?"

William turned to Lizzie. "What do you think, Liz?"

"Um... I would say at least about 75% of our DNA is identical to that of our opposites."

Robin nodded, impressed at what a scientific breakthrough this could be.

"And you have no actual familial relations to them?" Nightwing asked in shock.

"Not at all," William said. "We still have a lot of research to do about the scientific aspects of all of this.

So, while on Charconia, I met seven of the oldest Charconians, called the-"

"Let me guess," Wally interrupted. "The Old Charconians?"

"Close," William laughed. "We call them the Charconian Elders."

Wally slumped down in his chair and pouted.

"You really haven't grown much, have you Wally?" Miss Martian laughed.

"Heh." he smiled.

"The Elders told me about our powers, and the stage that the team and I were entering. They said that the Z-Stage would unlock the universal power, called the Z-Force. It would allow us to access any power or ability we could think of, and that our strength would be increased profoundly. We would be nearly invincible."

Superboy was looking more and more interested by the second.

"They finished up by telling me to lead to the best of my ability, regardless of what happened along the way, and to keep my eyes open for the people I would meet for a reason."

William paused. "So then I went back to Earth."

"Me, Hannah, Pearl and Benny all met up again, and I explained what I had learned about the Z-Force. We decided to test out our new abilities, and had a competition in a simulation chamber we called the Battle Dome.

Inside, we invited our planetary siblings to fight with us, but things got out of hand when I became angry. Instead of being calm and using the Z-Force, I tapped into my anger, and transformed into a Super Charconian instead."

"What's that?" Bumblebee asked.

"It's a Charconian's advanced war mode, where their body is encased in ice, and their power increases about 500%." William answered, looking a bit reluctant.

"I don't exactly like this part," he admitted. "I lost control of myself and couldn't stop. I was 13, but after everything we had been through, I should have done better."

"Hey," Nightwing said, smiling. "It happens. When things get tough, we just have to relax and stay whelmed."

Zatanna giggled, remembering Nightwing's unusual vocabulary.

"What?" he asked, glancing at her.

"Oh, nothing." she said innocently smiling.

Batgirl looked at Zatanna with a glare that would have intimidated Batman.

"You're right," William smiled, "Whatever "whelmed" means."

"Well," Nightwing laughed. "People are always overwhelmed or underwhelmed, so we just try to stay whelmed."

"Got it." William said. "Anyway, our training was interrupted when an alarm went off, that was when I finally regained control. There were hundreds of missiles headed for Washington D.C."

"Is that why you came here?" Artemis asked.

"It would seem so," William said, "But I won't get to the present for another two years."

"What?" the Team exclaimed.

"Two years in my explanation..." William clarified.

Everyone seemed to calm down.

"By the time we got here and destroyed all of the missiles, we realized they were made of a special metal only found on a planet called Terra 9. Hannah, Pearl and I went to Terra 9 to investigate."

William looked down. "We were tricked into going..." he whispered.

The Team looked down as well, not knowing what to say.

"But," William said, cheering up, "If we hadn't gone, we never would have found Lizzie."

She smiled. "And you never would have found Goldie." she said, almost intimidatingly.

William didn't speak.

"I'm sorry," Lizzie said, feeling terrible for what she had just said. "I didn't mean it li-"

"Hey, it's alright Liz," William smiled. "It's not your fault."

"What happened to your friend?" Aqualad asked.

William kept his eyes down.

Aqualad smiled. "I know what it is like to lose someone who is dear to you." he said softly.

Nightwing looked ashamed and turned away.

"You can trust us." Aqualad finished. "We will do nothing but support you."

Finally, William looked up. "Alright." he agreed.

"When we reached Terra 9, we were just trying to find out why they had attacked us with all of those missiles. When we experienced it, we realized no one there was even intelligent enough to set off a firecracker. Except for one person, their planet's superhero, Golden Streak."

"Goldie." Batgirl deduced.

William nodded. "She was really strong and fast and everything, but she seemed pretty new and inexperienced in hero business, so while undercover, I went to school with her. She was a great friend, and fun to talk to. But soon I realized that if no one had sent those missiles to Earth, we didn't have any business on the planet.

That day, some type of huge spaceship arrived, and it took half of the planet. The dark half, leaving the light half. My sisters and I went into the spaceship to retrieve it, and Golden Streak came to back us up, but when we found an old enemy from when we were small, and beat him effortlessly, she thought she wasn't needed, and went back to the planet.

I told my sisters to go too, and accidentally set off the self-destruct mechanism in the ship. While I was trying to escape and find the planet half, I felt a huge power in the ship. But then it faded. When I got to the planet's half, it had been shrunken. I managed to return it to normal size, and with a second until detonation, I threw it back to make Terra 9 whole again.

When the ship exploded and I landed back on Terra 9, Hannah, Pearl and I were attacked by three creatures called Skelkans. Somehow they knew who we were."

"Ugh..." Pearl said, "Those creeps."

"Hannah and Pearl each beat one pretty easily, but mine explained that we had been tricked. By coming to Terra 9, we had left Earth more vulnerable, even with Benny, Janessa, Jessica and Isabella there. It turned out that the dark half of the planet was made of Dark Ambionite, a Charconian's weakness. Being part human, at that time I wasn't susceptible to its effects.

But Jessica was, whether she was there or not.

Since I had touched it, the Dark Ambionite killed her indirectly."

"That's terrible..." Miss Martian whispered.

"It was hard to handle." William admitted. "And eventually, while fighting him, I found out that Skullkus had been behind the trap, knowing that with Jessica out of the picture, I wouldn't be strong enough to stop him from taking over the Earth. I eventually defeated the Skelkan, whose last words were: "He only did this because you destroyed his kingdom planet."

I remembered; I _had _accidentally destroyed a planet while destroying another creature on the way to Charconia. Jessica had told me I just destroyed Skelkia, but in the rush to get to Charconia, I forgot to apologize."

"But all that just to get back at you for an accident?" Wonder Girl asked. "That seems pretty harsh."

"Skullkus is a heartless jerk." William said. "He has no limits.

We decided to leave that day, and surprisingly, Goldie wanted to come. She saved us from two assassins targeting our rocket. So we let her come, and invited her back to Earth. When we got there, we helped Benny, Janessa and Isabella finish off some evil powerhouses."

"But Jessica...?" Beast Boy asked.

"Was gone." William confirmed.

There was a short silence.

"But then, it was Goldie's birthday a while later, so we threw her a party on an island we created for her. However, some ninja-like creatures attacked, and almost beat us, but Pearl and Hannah combined into one being, and with their combined power, beat the leader, and saved us.

Finally, after we all caught our breaths and made sure we were alive, a comet fell, and almost crushed us."

"Oooh..." Wally groaned. "Bad?"

William looked at Lizzie. She gave him an innocent smile.

"No," William said, smiling back. "Perfect."

"Aww, they're having a moment!" Miss Martian squealed.

"What?" William defended. "No, it wasn't that! I just-it was- no, she and I knew each other even before me and my sisters got our powers!"

The Young Justice team all nodded slowly, smiling.

"What was that supposed to be?" William asked.

"Go on..." Nightwing laughed, ignoring the question.

"Fine... Lizzie stepped out of the comet with her opposite, Leo. Opposites usually are pretty alike, but Leo and Lizzie WERE opposites. Leo was hotheaded, cunning and sly, while Lizzie is relaxed, trustworthy and sweet. From the second I saw Leo, I felt something was off about him.

Anyway, the fact that they had arrived in a frozen comet hinted that she was Charconian also. But Lizzie and I had already instantly remembered each other from when we were really young, we used to get in trouble all the time in 1st grade, skipping school to go on adventures."

Lizzie laughed. "Those were usually my idea." she admitted.

"Oh, yes they were... It was always your fault." William teased.

"Leo, however," he continued, "was more focused on flirting with Goldie than meeting the team or anything else...

I invited Leo and Lizzie to stay with us in our headquarters, after Lizzie explained they had been sent by the Charconian Elders to find us, and help us in "the upcoming battle." We had no clue what that meant.

We had a birthday party for Goldie again that night, and luckily, this one went uninterrupted. Then, a few days later, officially added her to the team, changing us from the Z4 to the Z-Force."

William smiled. "And so, part one of the Z-Force team was born."


	5. A House Divided

This is a long story..." William admitted. "How about a break?"

Nightwing nodded. "Whatever you want." he said, with much more trust and respect for the kids than he had before.

"You kids have been through a lot..." Wally said.

"Hey, the only kid here is Hannah." Pearl laughed.

"If I might ask," Batgirl said. "What day is it?"

"July 4th, 2012." Pearl said. The Team looked among themselves in shock. Not only was the date over 6 months from the one they had been on, but they had also gone backwards almost 4 years.

"Well, Happy Independence Day!" Wally cried. "When's the party?"

"Later," William laughed. "Hero business first, personal business later."

"So..." Nightwing thought aloud. "Present day for us is almost 4 years ahead of this dimension..."

"Wait," Lizzie said, "Dimension? Where did you guys come from?"

Nightwing looked at Miss Martian. "I got it." she said. "Everyone close your eyes. It's time for us to introduce ourselves."

As the Z-Force obeyed, they began to see the entire story.

They experienced everything Miss Martian could remember, from the minute Speedy had left the Hall of Justice and went out on his own; to the second they had somehow arrived in this dimension. (However, Miss M had been sure to leave out her romantic affairs.)

"You guys are amazing..." Hannah complimented.

"No more than you all are," Nightwing replied. "I started fighting crime when I was nine, I can't imagine starting at three..."

He looked at Hannah and smiled. "No trauma, no thirst to kill..." he said. "That's great."

Hannah smiled back. "Thank you, Nightwing." she said.

Nightwing turned and looked at all of his friends, particularly Aqualad. "Great to see you, Kaldur." he said.

Aqualad nodded. "It has been a long time, my friend." he said.

"So, um, Kaldur," Artemis began. "Why exactly are you wearing Black Manta armor...?"

He looked at Nightwing, who turned to William.

"Based on the way we got here, what would you say are our chances of getting back?"

William looked at Lizzie. "Do you think the sequence Robin accidentally typed could have created an artificial boom tube, and brought them here?"

Slowly, Lizzie nodded.

William turned back. "I would say you have about a 20% chance, and that is only if someone from your dimension somehow found your coordinates, and sent you a sort of inter-dimensional map back home."

The Team was silent.

"Soooo," Wally said, looking disappointed. "We basically have _no _chance of getting back unless we can create our own inter-dimensional transportation portal and find the dimension we came from?"

William nodded. "I'm sorry, you guys." he said. "But it looks like you're stuck here until we can find another way to send you back..."

"But we can't be gone from our dimension!" Wonder Girl cried. "We just discovered that our Earth has been invaded by these gross little aliens!"

"Um, Cassie," Batgirl whispered. "Technically, the Z-Force has alien DNA."

Wonder Girl covered her mouth.

"It's alright," William laughed. "But I understand. It would be terrible if we left here too. We're in the middle of a worldwide crisis of our own."

"Maybe we can help you guys." Nightwing offered.

"Thanks," William replied, "But for now, I think we all need a short break. And I have the feeling you all have things to sort out as well..."

Nightwing nodded. "Thanks." he said.

"We'll get you guys something to eat," Lizzie offered as the Z-Force left the room, closing the door behind them.

Aqualad turned to Nightwing. "If we are stuck in this new Earth," he began.

"Then there's no need to keep secrets from the old Earth." Nightwing finished.

Kaldur nodded. "For the past few years," he said, answering Artemis' question. "I have been on an extremely covert, deep undercover mission for Nightwing."

Wally sighed. "I have to admit," he said to Artemis. "I knew about it too."

"Only Nightwing, Kid Flash and I were aware of this." Aqualad continued. "My goal was to become trusted completely by my father, Black Manta, and that eventually, he would tell me who the newest member of the Light was."

The Team stood there, surprised that this had been going on right under their noses.

"Sorry for not telling you," Nightwing said, "But we couldn't risk anyone else knowing. This was a completely knowledge-sensitive job."

"We understand." Miss Martian said. Superboy looked at her, urging her to say something. However, she simply turned away.

Superboy's expression became a scowl, and he stormed out of the room without a word.

"So..." Robin said. "What just happened?"

"I'll go see if he's okay." Miss Martian said discreetly. She walked off silently, following after Superboy.

"There she goes chasing after "Super Ex-boyfriend?!" La'gaan whined. "Neptune's Beard!" he cursed. He looked up at the Team, realizing he had spoken out loud.

"Hmm." Wally said, "Sounds like someone's a bit insecure."

In the hallway, M'gann caught up to Conner. She stood next to him, not knowing what to say. He glanced at her, and then turned away angrily.

"What," she questioned, "So now we're never talking again?"

"Gee," Conner replied, "You read my mind."

M'gann took a step forward. "I don't have to "read your mind" to know how you feel, Conner. But the breakup was your idea."

Conner spun around. "Don't pretend you don't know why."

"I know. I know." M'gann said, lifting her hands, "You disapprove of how I use my psychic powers."

"You mean how you abuse them!" Conner retorted. "Ripping intel from the minds of your victims, with no concern of what it does to their psyches!"

"They aren't victims!" M'gann defended. "They're the bad guys! That information is helping the Team, the League; the entire planet!"

Conner glared at her. "And leaving your _VICTIMS _in a catatonic state. It's not right, M'gann! You're behaving no better than Psimon!"

Miss Martian's jaw dropped at the mentioning of her enemy and rival psychic. How could he even say that they were alike?!

"If you feel that strongly," she said quietly. "Why not tell Nightwing? Or the League?"

Conner looked down sadly. "Because... I was hoping _I_ mattered enough to make you stop..." he admitted. "I didn't think you'd try to tamper with _my_mind; try to make me forget I was upset with you."

"Conner," M'gann replied, looking away, "I'm so sorry about that."

"Sorry you did it?" he replied, "Or sorry you got caught?"

He turned around. "After all we'd been through... How could you think I wouldn't recognize your touch inside my mind? Didn't you know what that touch meant to me? And-and to have you...pervert it like that..."

M'gann lowered her head in shame.

He sighed. "Guess I was kidding myself. I mean, how replaceable was I? Two minutes after I end it, you're dating the _rebound _guy from the Black Lagoon."

"La'gann is _not _my rebound guy..." Miss Martian said, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Well, lucky La'gann..." Conner whispered.

The two stood in silence.

"Why didn't you tell them about the way you "use" your powers just now?" Conner asked eventually. "You had the chance to do so!"

"I-" Miss Martian began. "I don't know..." she admitted. "I... I just can't."

Superboy nodded. "Nice to know how much I meant to you." he said, verbally stabbing M'gann in the heart. He walked back to the Oval Office without another word, leaving Miss Martian standing there speechless.

William was silent as he and his team stacked plates of sandwiches, cookies, and drinks.

Lizzie looked up from her guilt as Pearl tapped her on the shoulder, and motioned towards her brother.

Looking almost scared, Lizzie walked up to him on the other side of the kitchen. "Hi," she said uneasily.

William smiled briefly. "Hi," he replied, not looking at his friend.

Lizzie sighed, "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I didn't mean to make you feel bad about Goldie, William..."

He paused, and looked her in the eyes. "Lizzie," he said reassuringly, "It's alright, nothing was your fault."

He was suddenly very focused on a glass of water. "I shouldn't have let her go into that tear in space. I knew she could close it, but I probably could have too. Or we could have found another way. And if anything, I would be lost right now, not her."

Lizzie shook her head. "Don't say that..." she said quietly. "We all knew that she was aware of the conditions; she knew that she would probably end up stuck inside. We did everything we could, we tried to stop her."

She smiled. "And I don't mean for this to sound bad, but I'm glad it wasn't you who got lost in that explosion."

He looked at her. "Why?"

"Since you're still here, I don't have to be leader, thank God."

William laughed. "Oh, don't worry." he said, "You'll be leader one day."

"Ugh," Lizzie replied. "That's too much pressure!"

William shrugged. "Learning how to act and make decisions under pressure only makes us stronger..." He looked at Lizzie.

"And keeps us whelmed." he grinned.

She smiled. "Okay," she said. "We'll see."

She picked up a few trays of food and began to walk out of the kitchen.

"Hey, Liz?" William called.

She turned around. "Yes?"

William smiled. "Thanks for that, it-it helped a lot."

Lizzie smiled back. "We'll find her." she said.

"I know we will." William replied.

As Lizzie left the room, Chris walked into the kitchen. A bright purple glow surrounded him as he shook his head, sort of returning back to reality.

"Hey, you're back?" William asked.

"Yeah, I'm here." Chris replied.

"How did the psychic search go?" William inquired, hoping for a different answer than the last few times.

But Chris shook his head. "Sorry William," he said, "I couldn't find Goldie in any of the nearest planetary chains."

William nodded. "It's alright." he said. "Thanks for trying. You should stay in your body now; the people we met are incredible."

Chris nodded. "I heard their story through my mind traveling. I just couldn't reply, or else it would break my concentration in space."

William laughed. "I wonder how they will react when they find out we have a master psychic of our own."

"Well," Chris said, "I guess we'll find out."

They picked up some more food and drinks and left the kitchen.

Back in the Oval Office, it seemed as if there had been a fight. The Team was very quiet, silently eating.

Pearl and Hannah glanced at William, who shrugged.

"Is everything okay?" Lizzie asked.

"Sure." Superboy replied. "Maybe the only thing wrong is all in our minds."

Miss Martian scoffed, and turned away, facing Lagoon Boy. "Here you go, La'gaan." she said, feeding him a sandwich.

"This right here folks," La'gaan smirked. "This is true love."

Superboy rolled his eyes.

"Okay..." William said, "I may not be M'gann," he said, "But I'm feeling a lot of mistrust and anger in here."

No one of the Young Justice team said a word.

"Look," Pearl said, "You guys are all friends! Of course there are going to be secrets and a few lies here and there, but you have to work through them as a team."

"She's right," Batgirl said; "A house divided against itself cannot stand." she quoted.

"Well," Superboy said slyly. "When you guys have a problem, what do you do?"

"I don't know," William said turning to Lizzie. "Eliminate it?" they both said at once.

"That's all I need!" Conner roared, launching himself at La'gaan.

"Conner, stop!" M'gann cried, as Superboy tackled Lagoon Boy through the back window.

She prepared to fly after them, but Zatanna stopped her.

"Wait M'gann..." she warned. "I'm feeling some powerful dark energy here. On the two of them..."

"Oh no..." Lizzie said.

**_"Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!"_**Zatanna chanted, attempting to find where this energy was coming from.

Nightwing smiled, seeing how easily she could perform the spell now.

However, Zatanna put her hands to her head in confusion. "I-I don't get it..." she said. "This energy is everywhere, all over the world... But it feels like it's also right here... There's no end to it..."

Lizzie looked at William, who nodded to her.

"I think it's time to continue the story." Lizzie said.

"But what about Conner and La'gann?" Miss Martian asked.

"I really think you will want to hear this first." William said solemnly.

"Wait..." Hannah whispered. "Is this...?"

Lizzie nodded slowly. "He's still doing it."

"Who's still doing what?" Nightwing asked.

Lizzie sighed, as the Z-Force all took their seats. The Team did the same.

"A few days after Goldie became an official member of the team," she began. "Leo started to get...weird."

"Weird in what sense?" Rocket asked.

"Weird," Lizzie answered. "As in sinister. He kept telling me about these insane plans to get rid of the Z-Force so he could get to Goldie."

"Only slightly creepy..." Wally commented.

"Yeah," Lizzie agreed, "It wasn't like him... One day, there was an emergency. A huge monster called Bront was attacking a city not too far away.

We had no earlier warning, and we couldn't tell where it had come from. So the Z-Force went to stop it, and I went with them. Leo insisted on staying, but told me not to get in their way.

When we got there, Hannah fought Bront head-on, using her Z-Force power to become a master of swordsmanship. She managed to strike Bront in the heart, and I felt some type of pain, except it wasn't mine. It was Leo's. I had the feeling he had been mentally controlling Bront.

When we got back to the headquarters, Leo was gone. I traced his location mentally, and we went after him. Benny noticed a change in Leo's power signature, saying it seemed a lot stronger, but also a lot darker.

I found Leo in a park, watching a bunch of children. Suddenly, one child fell over, and started to groan, as if he was having a heart attack.

William got the child to a hospital, but Leo..."

Lizzie's expression became angry.

"Leo was laughing. At the child."

"What?!" Bumblebee cried.

Lizzie nodded, her hands clenching into fists.

"I confronted him, and he wasn't Leo anymore. Instead of brown, his eyes were black, with flashes of red. He had this evil grin, and I-I froze... This was supposed to be like my brother...

He asked what I was doing there, but he looked amused. I told him I knew that he had hurt the child, and he started laughing even more.

The sky turned black, and it started to rain, and I knew I would have to fight him.

He said, "I never wanted it to come to this, Lizzie, but you're getting in my way."

He tried to hit me, but I was faster than him. Punch after punch, all I did was keep dodging them; I didn't even want to touch him.

But then he stopped his fist in front of my face, and opened his hand, releasing a wave of burning dark energy. I still remember how hot it was, as it came towards me. I was too shocked to move."

She looked at Hannah. "But Hannah flew right past Leo, and grabbed me just in time, lifting me just as his attack exploded."

She smiled at the ten year-old girl. "He probably would have killed me that day, was it not for you."

"How old were you guys then?" Robin asked.

"I was 15," Lizzie said, "So was Goldie. William was 14, Pearl was 12, and Hannah was 9."

"This was just last year?" Batgirl asked.

"_Exactly_ a year ago, actually..." Lizzie said. "Goldie appeared in front of him, and punched Leo, sending him flying into a nearby town. He got up, and pointed a finger at her, ready to send a beam of black light through her heart.

Suddenly, we heard Zion Tallius say, _"Please, don't let him hurt my daughter."  
_  
"Then, somehow, we knew, Zion Tallius had married a Charconian woman 16 years ago, and was Goldie's father.

Goldie transformed into Golden Streak, her black hair becoming golden, and her power increasing, but Leo was still stronger.

He released his beam of energy at Goldie, and somehow, doing everything he could to save Goldie, William appeared in front of her, and took the hit.

Luckily, with Benny there, he could be healed.

Leo seemed ecstatic. With William down, Goldie was "all his." As Hannah, Pearl, Benny and I flew at him while Goldie watched William. Leo sent out a shockwave that came at us, ready to rip us apart.

Goldie's eyes flashed yellow, and she created a shield around Leo, that trapped his attack inside with him.

It exploded, destroying his body entirely. But the amount of dark magical power that he had put inside it, combined with the influx of positive energy from Goldie's shield created a tear in space, which began acting as a black hole.

Somehow, the pure evil inside Leo had one more thing to say:

_**"Ti snaem gnihton fi siht si ym dne, **_  
_**Eno raey morf won, ym live llahs esir niaga!"**_

Zatanna's eyes opened in shock. "He cast a backwards curse?"

Lizzie nodded. "He told us that he would still be in control one day, but we didn't know what that meant. Then, his soul was destroyed. However, the tear was starting to distort reality.

Benny was healing William, who said we had to close the tear before it destroyed reality entirely.

Goldie closed her eyes, and I think she said something to her father, who replied back, _"I love you, my daughter."_

Then she prayed that what she was going to do would work.

And she went inside the tear. It rippled, as if it couldn't hold her.

We begged her to come out, William saying we would find another way to close it. He walked to the edge of the tear, and held out his hand for her.

But she shook her head, and said, "You saved my life. The least I can do is save yours and the team."

We tried to stop her, we did everything we could to get her to change her mind, but she blew us a kiss and smiled, as a tear fell from her eye. Then, she let her power explode inside the tear, and it surged...

Then it closed."

Everyone sat in silence.

"So that is what happened to Goldie." Aqualad said quietly.

William nodded.

"You have my deepest condolences." Kaldur said.

"I'm so sorry, you guys." Artemis whispered.

The Z-Force sat in silence.

"I know she's still out there." William said. "Although our mental establishment with Zion Tallius disappeared when Goldie did, I can still feel her."

"We will find her someday." Lizzie agreed.

"Can I take it from here?" William asked.

"Of course." Lizzie smiled.

"After we lost Goldie, we were all kind of lost, in our own way." he said. "We asked Lizzie to join the Z-Force, not because Goldie was gone, but because of the bravery and power she had shown through the entire Leo incident. But she said she wasn't sure if she would join just yet.

About 6 months later, a letter arrived for Benny from the Raxian King, on January 1st. He was asking Benny to come back home and become the planet's official protector. Benny was still 8 years old, almost 9, but he had the power of ten Raxian warriors.

Benny was torn; ever since he was little, he had always wanted to be a protector, but he already had that opportunity as a member of the Z-Force, and didn't want to leave it behind.

However, turning the letter around, we found a letter to Benny from..."

William smiled. "His family. They had been searching for him since he was taken away to Earth as a baby.

Benny's decision was hard on him. He wanted to meet his real family, but he didn't want to "leave his new family."

He chose to stay with us.

But we weren't going to let him do that!

So, we took him back to Raxnus, where he finally met his mom, dad, and little sister.

And soon, it was time to say good-bye to Benny. Hannah and Pearl had their moment, and then Lizzie and I had ours. I told him to keep getting stronger to protect the ones he loves, and to visit whenever he could. He will always be a member of the Z-Force no matter what.

So, we said bye to our little brother figure, remembering the 3 years we had spent with him. We promised him we would keep looking for Goldie. And with that, he left with his family, finally feeling completely at home."

William sighed. "Now, we're getting near the end. After Benny left, Lizzie told us she wanted to officially join now, because we would "need her expertise."

"Hey," Lizzie said, "I told the truth, didn't I?"

William laughed. "I'm not going to lie; Lizzie really was a valuable addition to the team. She unlocked both her Charconian and Z-Force powers in a week."

"Awesome!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"She is awesome," William agreed. Lizzie smiled.

"About 2 months ago," William continued, "a storm appeared in the sky. We thought it was just a bad thunderstorm, but really, it was Chris' arrival. Lizzie and I also knew Chris from 1st grade, however, he isn't Charconian. He is part Stormian, like Hannah."

Chris grinned, and gave Hannah a high-five.

"When he found us, he told me that he had psychic abilities, and that he had seen a vision of the world in ruins, and the Z-Force defeated, and had come to help prevent it from coming true.

After training him, and finding out what his powers can really do, we invited him to join the team. And that was when the Z-Force became what it is today.

Now," William continued.

"One month ago, we began sensing this dark energy. Familiar almost... We traced it to a graveyard in Washington D.C. When we got there, Lizzie almost fell over; that was when we guessed it had to be Leo's power.

All of a sudden, the sky turned gray, and these dark clouds began to form overhead. Some weird feeling sort of fell on the people around us. It was as if out of nowhere, the entire world had been possessed by this unnatural sadness.

Soon, we realized that the cemetery we were in was the epicenter of the sorcery."

William turned to Zatanna. "That's why you couldn't find it." he explained. "It's all around you.

We tried to find a way to stop it, but the sadness was consuming people worldwide. And then, near the Washington Monument, a creature appeared; gray metallic skin, with red writing across its chest."

"Like Anger..." Wonder Girl recalled.

"Yes," William said. "Just like Anger. But this one had a depressing sonic wave that could level cities. And the writing on his chest was Charconian for "Sadness." Just like with Anger; the writing on his chest was Charconian _for _"Anger."

We figured that this creature must have been what Leo's spirit was using to get back at us.

So we fought Sadness, which was easy, because he was depressed enough already. But it took a huge toll on civilians everywhere... The sadness hurt them all emotionally and mentally.

So for the last month, the five of us combined our power, and soon, we transported everyone else on the planet to a safe house on the moon, which is protected by Charconian, Stormian and Speedian guards.

This way, they can't be hurt anymore, as long as Leo can't get to them through his "Avatars of Emotion". Our quick thinking must have angered Leo, because he sent Anger this morning, and just as we went to face him, we found he had already gotten Wonder Girl.

We think Leo's minions are only going to keep getting stronger, so until we beat all of them, we're going to keep fighting, until all of this finally comes to an end."

The Team smiled, finally knowing the entire story of the Z-Force.

"So, why did Superboy and La'gann start fighting?" Miss Martian asked.

William took a deep breath. "We think their minds have been possessed by Leo's next little... Demon, if you will. And I think I know what this one symbolizes."

He stood up. "I think this one's name is Jealousy."


	6. The Pit of Unspeakable Envy

**It's been almost three days since I have updated... What's wrong with me?! Sorry about that, I had to put a lot of time and thought into this chapter; I hope you enjoy it! I still do not own Young Justice, or any other DC characters. The Z-Force however, is all mine. :)**

"Jealousy?" Blue Beetle asked. "So they want to kill each other because they are jealous?"

"Not necessarily. Although I'm sure both of them are very jealous of each other," Lizzie thought aloud, "Leo's control over these creatures is on both a physical and emotional level. Whatever high emotion is expelled from that creature is passed into the minds of those most vulnerable to that specific emotion."

"That's why I was compelled to fight Anger!" Wonder Girl realized.

"And that's why I could barely fight Sadness." William admitted. "The only reason I broke free from his emotional grip was that Lizzie and my sisters were calling for help. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to control my own emotions. Logic doesn't work against these creatures, as you saw with Anger. The only way to beat them is to overpower them with another emotion or feeling. We beat Sadness with happiness, and we beat Anger with calmness and composition. So even though Logic doesn't work in their minds, we still have to use it against them."

"Noted," Nightwing nodded.

"Since these are our friends under his control," Wally mentioned. "Can we fight Jealousy?"

The Z-Force looked at each other. "Why not." William grinned.

* * *  
After little effort, they had found Superboy and La'gaan plowing through a large neighborhood, their fight destroying property and land without a care.

The Team and the Z-Force crouched behind a building, away from the line of destruction.

"If only I had my bow," Artemis wished. "I could distract them."

"Not a problem," Zatanna smiled.  
**_"Egnahc sehtolc otni ruo smrofinu!"_**she incanted, dressing the Team in proper battle gear.

"You're the best, Zatanna." Artemis complimented.

Zatanna shrugged, grinning.

"Now," Nightwing whispered. "Remember that they aren't concerned about hurting us, so don't be afraid to hurt them."

The Team nodded. "Let's do this," Nightwing smiled, and somehow disappeared into the shadows.

Kid Flash and Artemis glanced at each other. They had known Nightwing for years as Robin, but they still had no clue how he vanished so easily, even in plain daylight.

"Are you really that insecure?" Conner roared at La'gaan, who was blocking his attacks in his inflated form.

La'gaan growled. Matching Superboy blow for blow was difficult, even with his increased strength and durability.

Superboy aimed a powerful punch at La'gaan, one that the Atlantean wasn't ready for.

Just as he braced himself for the impact, an arrow shot right past them, and landed in the smallest, least noticeable crack in the building next to them.

Superboy launched his fist at Lagoon Boy, at the exact second that a green light stopped flashing on the arrow, and turned red.

The wall exploded, knocking the two away from each other, and dazing both. Pieces of glass, metal, and bricks rained from the air as a collapsed building lay between the fighters, a single plume of smoke separating the two sides.

In the smoke, a shadowy figure seemed to rise out of the debris. It paused; facing the heroes, then turned and began to dash away.

"Z-Force, after it!" William commanded, as he and his team chased an unknown creature through the vast city ahead of them.

Superboy stood up, glaring at Lagoon Boy, who had reverted to his normal form, no longer under the influence of jealousy. "Whoa, Boy of Steel," La'gaan said, dusting himself off. "I didn't mean that, I don't know why I was fighting you."

Conner seemed not to hear, but was instead looking himself over, as if in a new body.

"You alright, chum?" Lagoon Boy asked uninterestedly. But he looked closer. Superboy's blue eyes were now black, with occasional flashes of red.

"What's going on?" La'gaan asked, as the Team ran up behind him. "Stay back!" Artemis threatened, aiming an arrow at Superboy. "We know who you are, Leo!" Wonder Girl cried.

Superboy looked at the two and laughed, sending a chill down everyone's spine. "This body isn't nearly as powerful as mine," he said, in a voice that wasn't his, "But, I suppose its durability should suffice." He turned back to the Team, and grinned evilly. "Who wants to help me test it out?"

Wally stepped forward. "I volunteer." Before the others could react, Wally ran at Superboy, a blur before their eyes.

Somehow, Superboy saw him coming, and slammed his knee into Kid Flash's chest, knocking his wind out. He spun around, ending up behind him, and slammed his fists into Wally's back, creating a gigantic crater in the street.

The Boy of Speed was too stunned to move; not that he could have anyway. "Wally!" Artemis cried, angrily launching an arrow at Superboy.

It cut through the air, with perfect precision, headed right for Superboy's chest. He caught it with ease, and glared at Artemis. She smiled, as he eyed the flashing arrow. As time seemingly slowed down, he threw the arrow back at Artemis, who barely had time to duck before it exploded right in front of her. Her unconscious body was sent flying through the window of a toy store; her tattered clothes stained with a deep red.

"Artemis…" Kid Flash groaned. How could he have let his girlfriend down? He tried his hardest to get back up, struggling to regain his strength...but put his head down in defeat.

"Artemis, no!" Nightwing cried, appearing in the air above Superboy. He somersaulted twice, and extended his legs, aiming for his friend's neck. However, Superboy dodged with ease, stepping to the left. Nightwing had predicted his move, and in turn, snapped his left leg to the left, hitting Superboy in the face, knocking him over. He landed in the road, facing Superboy. He pulled out his Escrima Sticks, and activated their electric tips.

"You're different..." Superboy said. "Tactical planning before the attack." Nightwing didn't speak. He twirled his weapons in his hands, and focused his glare on the Boy of Steel.

"So be it." Superboy grinned. He rushed at Nightwing, who swiped at him with his left Escrima Stick. Superboy seemed to see it in slow motion as he dodged it with no effort, sliding under it as if it were a game of limbo.

He snapped up, throwing a punch at Nightwing, who blocked it with his right hand, shocking Superboy's fist. "Urrgh..." he growled, following with a roundhouse kick.

Nightwing seemed to defy gravity as he leapt over Conner's leg entirely, and sent a quick jab at him, his reach extended by his weapons at hand. Easily, Superboy sidestepped to the right, and rushed back at Nightwing, tackling him just before he landed.

Being an expert acrobat, Nightwing easily recovered, and managed to stop himself before crashing into a brick wall behind him.

The Team watched in awe, as their normal human leader was somehow fighting a Kryptonian, and so far had taken little to no damage.

Superboy glared at the man in front of him. "Hmm." he repeated, "You really aren't like the others." His face sprouted an evil grin. "I guess I'll just have to go a little harder on you."

Roaring in anger, he threw himself at Nightwing, immediately thrusting his fist into his chest, leaving him breathless. The impact of the punch shattered all nearby windows.

Nightwing fell to the ground, clutching his chest and gasping for air. It felt as if he had been hit by a truck. Superboy slowly walked up to him, and looked down on him pitifully. "Guess I spoke too soon. There goes my respect for you." he spat.

Lifting his foot, he glared at the rest of the team, who was standing on the other side of the street, watching both in shock, and in fear.

Then, grinning at the rest of the team, he slammed his foot down on Nightwing's back, crushing the ground around him. Nightwing didn't move. "Okay, that's it!" Batgirl cried, terrified of how crucial Nightwing's injuries might be. "Everyone in, now!"

The rest of the team split in direction, and launched a full assault on Superboy. "Fine by me." Conner said darkly. Batgirl seemed to appear out of thin air. "How dare you do that to him?!" she cried, and sent a flying kick at Superboy, who caught her leg with one hand, and threw her right at Robin, who had been coming up behind him.

The two were sent flying into an abandoned car, shattering the windshield. "Hold still!" Rocket commanded, trapping Conner in a force field of blue energy. Superboy grinned again, correctly guessing that using kinetic energy only made the field stronger.

He closed his eyes, which had been starting to glow red, and released a massive shockwave of power that broke through the shield, and tossed Rocket away like a ragdoll. Bumblebee shot at him with blasts of yellow energy, but Superboy simply brushed them off, and roared, sending a sonic wave of energy from his mouth at her, sending the small hero flying.

"Enough!" Aqualad cried, landing in front of Superboy. He pulled out his water bearers, and solidified a hammer in each hand. "Let us end this." he said. Superboy ran towards Kaldur, who acted quickly, and slammed a hammer in his jaw, knocking him to the ground.

Conner looked up in surprise. He stared at Kaldur, realizing he had some familiar features. He seemed to give him the same intimidating glare as...

He stood up, shook his head, and leapt at Aqualad, spinning to dodge his counterattack, and nailed him in the face with a solid punch. Aqualad recovered quickly, and brought his knee up in a rapid defensive attack. Superboy was hit in the stomach, and doubled over in shock.

Aqualad swung his arm around, and brought his elbow down sharply on Conner's back, knocking him to the ground.

But Superboy got back up, and quickly swept his leg under Kaldur's, knocking him over by surprise. Before Aqualad fell, Superboy followed with a swift, yet powerful uppercut, which knocked his opponent back a number of feet.

Beast Boy suddenly appeared as a green tiger, slashing at Conner's chest, ripping three scratches across the "S" symbol on his shirt. Conner growled in pain, and caught the tiger by the neck, spinning around and throwing him into a closed off building, where Beast Boy crashed through the boarded door.

M'gann, who had been tending to La'gaan, finally arrived on the scene. "Conner!" she cried, terrified of the way he was acting. Conner, however, was no longer in control. He clapped once, the wave of energy collapsing the 10-story building next to her, as the rubble and debris fell on her mercilessly.

"Angel fish!" La'gaan roared, inflating his body and jumping towards the downed building. Superboy beat him, however, and kicked Lagoon Boy in the neck, instantly knocking him unconscious.

A sharp blue sword almost sliced Conner's cheek, as he turned and saw Aqualad, weapons pointed at him. Superboy's eyes began to glow a familiar red, as Kaldur realized what this meant. Still wearing his Manta Ray armor, he stepped back.

As Superboy released a twin beam of heat from his eyes, Aqualad fired his own laser back at Conner, and the beams met, colliding in mid-air. Both struggled to gain dominance over the other. "Leo," Aqualad tried to reason, "Please, release my friend." Superboy roared. "Never!" he hissed.

"Why are you doing this?" Aqualad asked, beginning to weaken slightly. Superboy cackled. "You wouldn't understand." His entire expression changed. **_"NO ONE UNDERSTANDS!" _**he yelled, his power exploding. His ocular beam multiplied, and overpowered Kaldur, creating a massive explosion that left the neighborhood charred and dark.

**_"Ekoms dna srorrim,"_** Zatanna incanted. **_"Etaerc Rednow Lrig snoisulli!"_**Suddenly, multiple copies of Wonder Girl appeared all around Superboy. He looked around as they began to punch and kick rapidly. He dodged left and right with no effort. One leg on his left; he ducked to the right. Two fists above him; he sidestepped to the left. Suddenly, the illusions disappeared, and the real Wonder Girl appeared, launching her fist at Conner. He responded by dashing at her with his own fist, as the two powerhouses met, the impact causing a shockwave that blasted both Wonder Girl and Zatanna away with great force.

Suddenly, a high-pitched wave blasted Conner's ears. Blue Beetle prepared to blast him again, but Superboy bellowed a huge burst of cold air, freezing him in the sky. "Insect." Conner muttered. His body encased in a block of ice, Blue Beetle fell to the ground:

and shattered.

This fight was over.

Leo looked at this body, and the damage he had caused. All around him, it looked as if a nuclear bomb had exploded; ashes and debris everywhere, dark plumes of smoke rising all around, small fires spreading to houses and apartments nearby. The dark clouds in the sky only made him feel better.

"Extremely durable body," he observed, "No injuries, minor damage..." He stopped. "But too human." He roared, expelling huge amounts of power from Conner's body, as he became stronger and stronger. A dark red glow surrounded him. "Much better." he grinned, his voice deeper, and more sinister. "With this physical body on my side, Lizzie and her stupid, pathetic friends don't stand a chance."

He leapt into the air, and began to _fly _in the direction the Z-Force had gone.

"I'm liking this more and more." he chuckled.

**Meanwhile...**

The Z-Force raced after their target from the sky, swerving through streets and over buildings, until they were out of the city entirely, and reached an area with many trees and a spacious amount of empty grassland.

The shadowy figure they had seen now had nowhere to run, and finally revealed itself. It had green, scaly skin, green snake-like eyes, and a long, lizard-like tail. There was no name on its chest, however, but as the Z-Force landed, surrounding the creature, William began to remember something he had heard a long time ago.

"Gray is for sadness, when I want to cry,  
Red is for anger that burns inside,  
Green is for envy, when I want more..."

He knew there was one more line, but he couldn't remember it...

_"Do you remember that, Lizzie?"_ he asked her mentally. _"I don't remember the last line..."_

Lizzie looked at him with wide eyes._ "That does sound familiar!"_ she agreed. _"But I don't remember it either..."_ She looked at William cautiously. _"Do you think Leo could be following that for his creatures?"  
_  
William glared at the green figure in front of him. "I think so," he said aloud. "I know what you are. You're even worse than jealousy. You're _Envy_."

Envy smiled, its green eyes flashing. "You caught me." it said; to the team's surprise, in a feminine voice. In dark red, the Charconian letters for "Envy" appeared across her chest, glowing eerily.

"Tell me," she said, with a slight cunning, playful tone; "Who do **you** _envy_?" The words seemed to slide slowly off of her tongue.

A weird green smoke began to wrap itself around each of the heroes, slowly encasing them. _"Should we attack now?"_ Hannah asked. _"Not yet,"_ William decided, after a second of thought. _"We have to catch her off guard. For now, just play along with her; pretend she has your mind captivated."_

"Let's play..." Envy purred. "You first," she chose, pointing to Chris' cloud of smoke. As Chris was dragged towards the creature, he sighed to himself, thinking of what to say.

"What makes you _jealous?_" Envy asked, almost sounding excited. In all honesty, there was nothing that envied Chris; but in an effort to stall for his friends, he was forced to come up with an alibi.

"I envy..." he said slowly. "Leaders."

William smiled inside his cloud. Chris' lie seemed to captivate Envy, as she replied. "Hmmm. What about leaders makes you... _envious?"_

Chris knew he had her attention. "It's unfair," he said, trying to convince Envy that he was under her control. "The leaders of any group are always more powerful, or smarter, and push everyone else around." He needed more. "Like William." he finished.

William made a face. He knew Chris had to be convincing, but was it really necessary to bring him into this?

This seemed to ensnare Envy however, who excitedly whispered. "Go on..."

"We're all just as qualified to lead," Chris continued, "And both Lizzie and I are older than he is, so what gives him the right to be in charge of us?" He hoped William knew he didn't mean it; although Chris and Lizzie were indeed older, they both didn't want the extra pressure that would come with the task. They liked supporting their friend's decisions.

"Yes..." Envy snickered. "There seem to be a lot of grudges in this team..." She seemed to glow with intrigue, but then again, the Z-Force could not see outside of their cloud covers. Envy smiled, "You next, "Leader."

As he got closer to Envy, he realized an odd feeling beginning to form in his head. He tried to shake it off. "What makes _you _jealous?" Envy laughed again. It seemed like she would control her victims into admitting their envies, and use those against them...

"I..." William struggled, keeping his real emotions in check. "I envy normal humans." The rest of the team couldn't believe their ears; _normal_ humans?

"They get to live so...carefree, so…naturally. They don't have to worry about invasions of alien assassins, or learn that their families were killed because of them, or..."

"Or?" Envy echoed, almost bouncing at this gossip. "Or," William continued, "Lose their best friend to a black hole." William sighed, and although no one could tell, with relief. He had managed to resist Envy's influence, and had let out a solid sounding admittance.

Lizzie wasn't sure what to think; had William been lying, or telling his actual jealousy secret? She thought he had been lying before, but the moment he brought Goldie up, she couldn't tell. He normally never talked to anyone about that, not even to her. And she missed Goldie just as much as he did.

Well, maybe not as much... She knew he and Goldie may have had some type of higher relationship, but each time she tried to bring it up, he would change the subject. She began to wonder. Was he in love with Goldie? Or was he STILL in love with Goldie, she decided was better. It would explain why he had always felt animosity toward Leo, maybe he just saw him as a threat to his "friendship" with Goldie.

So was William jealous of _Leo?_ Was that the reason he never wanted to talk about Goldie? Was Leo less than a threat to the world, and more of a threat to William personally? Besides, what did Goldie have that she didn't? Goldie was very smart, but she was smarter. She was just as beautiful as Goldie was... Well, as Golden Streak, her golden hair and eyes may have given her the upper hand, but for all she could remember, it was Lizzie, not Goldie, who had to constantly turn down teenage boys asking for her phone number after SHE had helped William, and the team, take down an enemy. Not Goldie.

If it were her, she wouldn't have left her friends begging her to find another way to close a black hole. She would never leave her friends. But Goldie had done exactly that. Goldie also wasn't as powerful as she was; even before she had unlocked her powers, she had never lost a hand-to-hand practice fight against Goldie. She was so much better than Goldie, why couldn't her team appreciate her? Or fuss over _her_? Why couldn't William appreciate her?

Lizzie paused, she didn't even like him that way; they were friends; nothing less, and nothing more. Maybe they weren't best friends, but they were pretty close... Weren't they? But of course, _Goldie_ was William's "best friend." Or HAD been was more like it. Goldie was gone, and Lizzie was here, yet sometimes she felt like William would prefer the former... Goldie seemed to be the team favorite, regardless of everything she had done for the team. Wait, why _was_ this bothering her so much? Was she seriously...was she...

"I'm jealous of _Goldie?_" Lizzie said aloud. She stopped in shock, covering her mouth. The rest of the team's mouths dropped open. Envy gasped. "Finally!" she exclaimed. "**_REAL_** envy!" Lizzie was petrified. Had Envy really possessed her mind that easily? Had Envy really gotten into her head, and made her think all those mean things about Goldie, her _friend? _William's eyes opened wide. He was pretty sure Lizzie had just come up with the perfect lie...hadn't she?

Yes, he had to believe that; Lizzie was far from the type to be jealous.

_"__God doesn't like envy,"_ they had told each other long ago, _"Jealousy _is_ not of the Lord."_

William smiled. He was **positive **that Lizzie was covering.

Suddenly, there was a massive explosion, back in the direction they had come from; where they had left the Young Justice team to finish the fight between Superboy and Lagoon Boy.

Hoping everything was alright with them; William took Envy's distraction as a cue, and blasted out of the green, cloudy encasement. Hannah, Pearl, and Chris followed. "What?" Envy cried. "You all are under my control! _Feel the jealousy!_" she tried, but could not captivate their minds.

Envy scowled. "Oh well." she scoffed. "At least your jealous little Lizzie is still mine!" William looked at Envy angrily. "Let her go." he demanded. Envy smiled. "Not. A. _Chance_." she hissed. William didn't wait another second before appearing before Envy, and throwing a powerful punch at her.

Suddenly, something landed in front of Envy, blocking the punch. The impact shook the ground.

William took a step back in confusion. "Conner?" he asked, cautiously. The boy raised his head, his black eyes flashing red. He stared at William angrily. "Leo...?" he realized in shock.

Leo? How could it have been Leo? Lizzie's heartbeat increased rapidly as she burst out of her trap in a flash of yellow light, and landed next to William. "Long time, no see," Leo's voice said from Superboy's mouth. "Lizard."

William almost took a step forward, but Lizzie shook her head. "Leo," she said quietly, "Why are you doing this? What did we do to hurt you?" He tilted his head back and laughed loudly, thunder crashing all around the heroes as the sky became a familiar black; despite it being early afternoon. "You don't understand." he cackled. "You'll never understand." He opened his arms and roared, surrounding himself with a dark red aura. William glared at him, his own cornea beginning to seemingly disappear. His eyes began to glow completely white.

"Relax, William." Lizzie said softly. "Don't hurt him." His eyes continued to glow, but his muscles seemed to relax a bit. "Leo," Lizzie said calmly, "Just tell me, how are you still alive?" Leo looked her deep in the eyes, sending a chill down her spine. "Normally, I wouldn't tell." he said, "But just for you, I will this once." Leo smiled with an evil glint in his eyes.

"Right before I died, when the black hole opened, I appeared in a new dimension."

Lizzie froze. "What kind of dimension?" she asked. Leo gave his opposite a look. "It doesn't matter…" he said. "I fell into this place, and it felt like I was being burned alive; my body was covered with searing heat. And yet, I felt like I was growing more powerful. Soon, I rose to the surface, and found out that I had fallen into a place called a Lazarus Pit, and the strange chemicals inside had healed my body, and strengthened me as well.

A man named Ra's al Ghul had brought me there, saying he had felt my spirit through dimensions, and that he knew he had to save me; that I would be the perfect Shadow to help carry out his plans."

"What plans?" Lizzie asked quietly. Leo grinned. "Plans of he and his company. Plans to make the whole world _see the Light!" _he roared, expelling large quantities of energy from his body. Thunder crashed, and lightning flashed across the sky as he flaunted his new power. "The fact that I managed to take down their enemies, those weak Young Justice losers, will only place me higher in the Light!"

William, eyes still glowing, gave Leo an angry look. _"What did you do to Young Justice?"_ his voice echoed loudly. Leo glared at the Z-Force. "The same thing I'm going to do to you!"

Envy leapt over Leo, and shot a dark red blast of flaming energy at Hannah and Pearl. "You two didn't get to play." Envy said, as Pearl kicked the attack away. "Well, we're playing now," Pearl retorted. "And just wait until you see who wins!" Hannah finished, flying towards Envy. The creature opened her mouth to let out another blast, but in the blink of an eye, Pearl's leg slammed down on her head, closing her mouth hard, as Hannah followed with a sharp uppercut.

Envy's mouth imploded with the force of her failed attack. She cried out in pain as she fell to the ground. "Why won't you fall to my jealousy?!" she snarled, smoke and blood spewing from her mouth. Hannah smiled. "There's nothing for us to be jealous of," she said simply. "God made us awesome." And with that, she spun around, and kicked Envy in the face, sending her plowing through the grass.

Leo, Lizzie and William were deep into their battle as Chris tried to dig deep into Leo's mind. There had to be a reason that he became so dark, so evil. Things like that didn't just happen overnight.

Lizzie ducked as Leo's leg swept right over her head. William caught Leo's leg, and dodged to the right, as Leo's punch missed. Honestly, William would have rather fought back than stay on the defensive, but as far as that went, the glow in his eyes meant God was in complete control of his physical body. He just had to cooperate mentally.

"What's the matter?" Leo teased, pulling his leg back from William's grasp. "Can't fight as well as you used to?" William frowned, but didn't say a word. "He's doing it on purpose, William." Lizzie reassured him, as she blocked a punch from Leo with her arm. "Don't let him upset you." William nodded, dodging to the left as Leo kicked at him. Leo was pushing them backward, towards a forest laden with tall trees. Lizzie guessed he wasn't trying to fight them seriously, but to gain cover, so he could catch them off guard.

She nodded at William, as her fist met Leo's with a large impact. The tension in the middle; Lizzie's overwhelmingly positive energy, and Leo's unnaturally dark negative energy, became stronger and stronger, as each pushed back on their arms. The ground began to shake rapidly, as cracks began to erupt in the ground around them. A bead of sweat fell down Lizzie's cheek, signaling William to counterattack.

The very second Lizzie dropped her fist; William pulled back his own, and thrust it forward, sending an invisible wave of power right at Leo. He was knocked backwards, taken completely by surprise.

Chris used this moment of vulnerability to venture into Leo's mind. He could feel his mind connecting with Leo's sub-conscience. He traveled far into Leo's thoughts, dreams, and memories. Finally, something signaled him to stop. It was the day before Leo and Lizzie had gone to Earth and found the Z-Force and Goldie. He had gone to visit the Charconian Elders.

"Why should we go?" Leo had asked the Elders rudely. "We don't even know these kids; what makes them so special?" The first Elder had frowned at him. "These "kids" are the Guardians of Earth. They will need your assistance in the near future. They will need a strong team to be there for them when their battles become tough." Leo had chuckled to himself. "So you're sending me and _Lizzie?_ She hasn't even tried to use her powers because _"it's not her time yet."_ You want me to go with her? Why don't I just become leader of their little Z-team and show them how it's done?" The second Elder had shaken her head. "That will not be necessary. First of all, you are only on Stage T. These children have already begun the final Z-Stage of their abilities. It is best for them to keep their leader. Also, you will go to help Lizzie unlock her powers. We are sending you to lead _her_, and to help the Z-Force however you can." Leo had smirked to himself. "Fine." he had said. "I'll help them." And with that, he had walked away.

Chris' mental connection was severed as Leo stood up and roared, causing the sky to flash with lightning. "Any luck?" Pearl called to Chris, as she jumped and flipped in the air, dodging Envy's claws. "Just barely." he replied. "I have to try again."

Pearl nodded, as Hannah flew above Envy, and shot a bolt of lightning from her finger. Envy screamed; her back smoking. "You little jerk!" she yelled. "You could have fried my brain!"

Brain... Chris looked at Leo, who was punching at Lizzie tirelessly. Lizzie insisted on being defensive however, and didn't try to fight back at her opposite. Brain waves ran by electric current, Chris knew. So, if he could somehow freeze those currents in Leo's brain, he could reach his sub-conscience with no interruption. But then again, this was Superboy's body; and any brain damage caused would affect him, not Leo. Chris didn't want to risk it. He had to find another way.

Leo was beginning to get annoyed with Lizzie's weakness. "I've seen you in action, _Lizard_." He mocked. "You've fought men with thirst for blood, deadly machines, even mutated android giants; you've fought enemies _three_ times my size, and you won't even touch me?" Lizzie jumped as he swept his leg under her, and landed a few feet away. "You may not be on my side…" Lizzie said quietly, "But you are still like my brother… And I just would never hurt you."

Leo paused for a second. He looked Lizzie in the eyes, and for a moment, she thought he would calm down, say something nice in return… "Lizard," he said. "I couldn't care less. I'm not afraid to hurt _you!" _He said, his comment both stunning and deeply hurting her. He took advantage of this, and held his hand out in front of her, a red ball of fire beginning to form. "Sorry, Lizard." he said, genuinely unconcerned about her feelings. "But I play to win." He threw his hand forward, sending his fireball at Lizzie, who was far too upset and heartbroken to react. The heat almost gave her a solid tan as his attack hurled towards her rapidly.

William's voice echoed, as he appeared in front of Lizzie.

**_"_**_Your cruel, evil spirit must be contained,_

_You have no love, even for Lizzie._

_So let a frozen world encase you._

**_Issin Fangelsi!"_**

Instantly, the world around the Z-Force was frozen white, and a large blizzard consumed Leo's fireball. "What is this?!" he roared, as he was pummeled by hail, ice and snow. Envy, who had still been fighting Pearl and Hannah, was frozen, buried in a block of ice. William's eyes returned to normal brown. _"Issin Fangelsi."_ He repeated. "Icelandic. The second language of Charconia." He looked at his miserable friend, whose pleading eyes still seemed to say, _"Please don't hurt him." _William looked back at Leo. "It means," he said slowly. However, it was too late; Superboy's body was frozen solid, completely encased in ice. "Ice Prison." William finished, as the wind and snow died down around him.

As far as anyone could see, there was nothing but ice, ice, and more ice. It was like Christmas in July. William turned around and faced Lizzie. She looked up at him sadly. "I'm sorry, Liz." He said empathetically. "It was terrible of him to say that to you." She nodded slowly, wiping a tear from her eyes. He opened his arms, and she walked into them, as he wrapped her in a warm embrace. Hannah, Pearl, and Chris followed, wrapping their friend in a small circle of hugs. "Thanks, you guys." She smiled. She looked at William. "Thanks, little man." She laughed. "It's okay though, really. I just want to know what happened to him; why he changed so much..." William nodded. "So do I, Little Liz."

Suddenly, Superboy's eyes returned to their natural blue, as the sky also changed back from black to blue. Envy's body slowly disappeared from her imprisonment. "His spirit is gone for now." Pearl said. "We must have scared them off." Hannah joked. Chris stepped forward. "Lizzie," he whispered. "I got in his sub-conscience. I know why he became evil like this." Lizzie looked at Chris intently. "What happened?" she asked calmly. He sighed. "You know that he is your opposite," he began, "But do you know who his parents are?" She shook her head. "I never met them." She admitted. "He said his parents died…" Chris frowned. "Well, he said, "His mom was a Charconian; your dad's opposite, but _his _dad…" he stopped, shaking his head. Lizzie put her hand on his shoulder. "You can tell me, Chris." she reassured him. "Who is his dad?" she asked.

Chris looked at her apologetically. "Somehow, his dad is the man who saved him. Leo's father is_ Ra's al Ghul._"

**What do you guys think? I feel like the chapter could have been a little better, with more accurate detail in the fights, however, I can't let them go all-out just yet... But tell me how you felt about it, and leave a review please :P**


	7. Hidden Talents, Hidden Enemy

**Author's Note: I am ****_really_**** sorry for the extremely long hiatus... However, I am back in action now, and ready to bring some to you!**

****

Hi, this is Hannah! You can call me Hannah Hurricane, Hannah, or just "the awesome one." I think you guys should see things from my point of view for a while. I mean, I'm the youngest, but I still have a lot to offer… And you guys will see that in this chapter!

"Wait..." I said, remembering what Leo had said before. "So if Ra's al Ghul, or Leo's dad, is from another dimension, do you think he could be from the same dimension… as Young Justice?" My brother and Lizzie looked at each other; they seemed to do that a lot, like they were discussing things to each other privately...

"The chances are really slim," William started, "But it's definitely possible." Lizzie finished.

"Speaking of Young Justice," Pearl wondered, "Where are they?"

William's expression changed. "Wait," he said, looking back towards the direction we'd left them, "Leo said he'd gotten to them already!" Without another word, he launched himself into the sky and zoomed away, his shape becoming smaller and smaller until he disappeared from our sight.

"Oh, yeah, we're all ready to go, William..." Lizzie said to herself, shaking her head. "Don't wait for us or anything..." When the rest of us laughed, she realized we heard her say that out loud, and her face turned slightly red.

As we approached the area, we could tell something terrible had happened. Not only was this entire half of the city covered in a cloud of black smoke, and not only were there buildings and cars all over the place like I had thrown a Hurricane Party, but Young Justice was nowhere in sight in all of this.

_"Z-Force,"_ William's voice called through our mental link, _"Status report."_

I landed in the middle of a street, looking at a burnt, once-yellow car. I shook my head, thankful that my yellow shirt was still nice and yellow after the fight with Envy, and not charred by her flaming mouth attack.

_"Nothing here."_ Lizzie's voice came in first.

Hmm.

_"Nada, señor."_ Chris answered also.

What was up with these cracks in the street? They all seemed to lead to one central area, maybe I could-

_"Um, I found Wally."_ I reported quietly_. "Great job, Hannah."_ William replied. _"Ask him to help you find the others."_ I looked down. _"Um... I don't think I can do that." _I admitted. _"Don't be shy,"_ Chris laughed, _"Just ask him nicely."  
_  
I sighed. _"No, he won't be able to hear me."_ I paused. _"He's out cold."_ I said, walking into the crater around him, gently putting my hand on his head.

There was a short silence. _"Alright, see what you can do, Hannah." _William said_. "Everyone else; look around, and see if you can find the rest of the Team. Report if you do."_ We all agreed, and I turned back to Wally.

His face was almost... Sad, as if he had been upset. But I couldn't really tell- it's hard to know when looking at an unconscious person. I moved my hand to his back, activating my healing abilities. He seemed to have an injured spine, and a few fractured ribs.

I guessed that Leo had done this damage. He seemed a lot different than when we had met him a year ago... It was August, and we had only met him in January of last year...

In less than two years, how could he have become so terrible? Maybe he was just jealous. Everyone knew he liked Goldie from the minute he saw her, but we _all_ thought William liked Goldie too...

But would that make Leo so jealous he turned evil? Probably not. But if not that, what else? Leo was sort of... quiet, for the first few months we had known him, but I didn't think he was evil... So what messed him up so badly?

Wally groaned, bringing me back to the present. He was awake already, and his bruises and broken bones were healing faster than normal, but he would still need time. "Art..." he whispered.

"Art?" I asked, confused. Did he want a picture? "Artemis..." he managed to say.

Artemis?

"Is she around here?" I asked, looking around, but not seeing her. He nodded slightly. "Where?" I asked him, but his head fell back to the ground. I materialized a pillow from my spare hand, and placed it under his head. I had to keep healing his bones longer than an external injury, so I couldn't look for his girlfriend right away...

_"Is anyone busy?"_ I asked. No one else had found any other Team members. _"Can you guys come here?"_ I asked. _"I think Wally said Artemis is around somewhere."_ In about two minutes, William, Pearl and Lizzie arrived.

"How is he?" Lizzie asked, kneeling down next to me.

"He'll be okay," I said, hoping it was true. His back seemed simple, but it was hard to heal bones, especially a large number of them at once.

"Here," Lizzie smiled. "I'll heal him, so you can help find the rest of the Team." I knew she was an amazing healer, so I nodded, and she took over.

William was kneeling not too far from where Wally was. There was a mark on the ground, which he stared at for a number of seconds. I was about to say something, when he said, "Do you see how this explosion mark is so small?"

I didn't think it was an explosion mark, I just guessed it was a burn. But I nodded. "I think it might have been one of Artemis' arrows." he continued. "All of the ashes are spread out in a circle, as if a weapon exploded on impact at a central area. And since Wally is pounded into the earth over there, I think that's where Leo, or Superboy, must have been."

I nodded, just going along with his detective attempt. "But why did the arrow explode here?" Pearl asked.

"I don't think Artemis would have messed up an important shot," he replied. "So maybe, Leo-or Superboy, deflected the arrow back at her." He pointed to a second trail of ashes. "So the explosion left these ashes, and the other ashes, made a little trail."

He began to follow it, until he reached the broken window of a toy store. "Um…?" Pearl asked.

"And the explosion made a trail," William said, stepping into the window, "Because the ashes exploded all over Artemis." he concluded, walking back out of the store with Artemis in his arms. She looked terrible.

Her uniform was stained with blood, (which made me the slightest bit scared) and was torn and tattered, like she had been blown up... Oh.

"Wow, Detective William." Lizzie joked, not looking up from her healing. William put Artemis down next to Wally.

"Whoa..." she breathed. "I hope she's okay."

My brother nodded. "Me too," he agreed. "Can you heal her?" Lizzie smiled at him. "Give me some credit, William."

He smiled back. "I know you can." Lizzie stretched her hands farther apart, and started to heal Wally and Artemis at the same time. Her healing abilities were definitely a lot better than the rest of ours.

"Alright," William announced, "We still have to find the rest of Young Justice, but I don't want to leave Lizzie here alone, just in case Leo finds his way back..." Lizzie looked up at him for the shortest second, and back down at her healing.

She shook her head as she increased the amount of energy being put into her work, allowing her power to slowly flow into Artemis and Wally. A wispy white light emanated from each of them as her energy slowly restored them, erasing the effects of their injuries.

"I will be fine, William." she sighed, her arms shaking slightly.

"No Liz," he said defensively. "I can't leave you here by yourself; you're putting your own energy into them, and you might need it."

Lizzie looked at him, like she was about to argue, but then gave up. "Okay, you're right…" she admitted. William looked at her. "I know today hasn't been easy for you. That's the only reason I want to make sure you will be okay." She nodded, but didn't say anything.

William turned to me. "Hannah, will you stay here with Liz?"

He trusted me to stay with Lizzie by myself?

"Sure I will." I said; still not convinced that he would really leave Lizzie alone with only one guard.

"If anything happens, let us know immediately." he said, as Chris landed next to him.

"What's going on?" Chris asked. He looked at Lizzie healing Artemis and Wally. "Wow."

"I'll fill you in on the way," William said, as he and Pearl started to ascend into the sky. "Alright," Chris said, following after them.

"Bye guys," I said, waving to them. Chris, Pearl and William waved back, and flew away.

_"Be careful."_ William said, speaking in my mind.

_"I will be." _I laughed.

I turned back to Lizzie, who smiled at me. "Thanks for staying." she said. "I know you usually want to be in the line of action rather than the line of defense."

I was about to answer, when I sensed something headed our way. It felt like energy…

"Lizzie, get down!" I said, but then remembered that she couldn't move without interrupting her healing, or else her concentration would be broken. She did her best by ducking slightly. Wow, she really trusted me to protect her…

I wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

I spread my arms out, closing us inside a bright yellow shield. A flaming ball of energy which fell from the sky blasted against it, but I managed to hold it up long enough for the fire to disappear.

"Are you okay?" I asked Lizzie. She looked up at me and nodded. "Thanks," she said. "Quick thinki—"

All of a sudden, she froze. I knew it couldn't be good. Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. _"That was indeed some quick thinking, girl," _a familiar, snakelike voice said from right behind me.

"Envy." I said, not needing to turn around. "Did Leo send you here to finish Lizzie off?" I could practically hear the smile creep across her face. _"Possibly," she replied. "So if you know what's best for you, you'll move out of my way."_

I couldn't help but laugh out loud. "You're serious?" I asked, amused by her confidence. But she didn't laugh. I turned around and looked her square in the eye. She nodded, grinning with her sharp, pointy teeth. "Well then," I said calmly, "I think you have yourself completely overestimated."

She took a step back, like she couldn't believe I just said that to her. _"No, I think you're simply mistaken."_ she defended. I smiled at her. "You're right," I agreed. I stepped forward.

"You're the one who's just underestimating me." I said, surrounding myself with a bright yellow aura.

_"Hannah," _William's voice echoed in my head. _"Your energy is skyrocketing; what's going on? Who's there?"_

I smiled. _"It's just Envy." _I answered.

_"Envy came back?" _William asked frantically. _"Is Leo there too? Is Lizzie okay? Where is she?"_

_"Relax, William," _I laughed. _"Lizzie is fine. And Envy is nothing I can't handle in my sleep."_

He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. _"Alright, but be careful. And don't let Envy hurt Liz either."_

_"I'll be careful," _I replied. _"And Lizzie is safe with me, stop worrying!"_

I felt him smile. _"Alright, alright… If anything goes wrong, tell me."_

Envy looked at me. Her green eyes started to glow, and suddenly, tentacles began to sprout from her back, flailing wildly. "Wow," I teased. "I didn't know you were part octopus also…"

_"Shut up!"_ she hissed, whipping three of her tentacles at me. I guess the fight was starting. "Be careful!" Lizzie called. "There's nothing to worry about here," I reassured her. "This won't take long."

I ducked as the first tentacle slashed right above my face. As the second came at me from the left, I ducked backwards under both of them, and spun, catching the third in one hand. "Too slow," I laughed, yanking the tentacle from her back, causing her to scream in pain.

Purple ooze splashed all around me, as I landed in front of Lizzie. "How are you holding up?" I asked her, quickly shaking off my hands before dashing back at Envy. "I'm doing okay," she said calmly. "Be careful."

"Careful isn't in my vocabulary." I joked, jumping over Envy's tentacle swipe. Two more came at me from both sides, as I slid on the ground, sweeping under Envy's legs. I grabbed onto her back and swung myself up over her head.

_"What are you—" _she began. I grabbed her neck, and pulled upwards, as she slipped on her own limb, and crashed to the ground.

"You have so much energy!" Lizzie laughed, still focused on her healing. "I know right!" I said, hovering above Envy, who was scrambling to her feet.

_"Die!" _she hissed, launching a ball of dark red energy from her hand. "Whoa." I said, just barely ducking under it, feeling its heat shoot past my face. "I thought we were friends!" I teased.

"Hannah, 6:00!" Lizzie cried. Oops. I turned around just in time to see Envy's attack circling back at me. I faced Envy, and teleported behind her, leading the energy ball towards us. _"I'm not going to fall for that." _she said, teleporting behind Lizzie, grabbing her by the neck.

"Let her go!" I cried, punching at Envy rapidly. Somehow, she dodged every hit, and caught my arm with a tentacle, holding me next to Lizzie in front of her. The energy attack continued to streak closer at high speed.

_"Thanks for being my human shields!" _Envy cackled. I looked at Lizzie, who was still trapped in Envy's grip. Her hands fell to her sides, her healing interrupted as she struggled to escape. She was running out of air, and was already tired enough. _"I have to protect her…" _I thought. _"I can't let William down."_

Envy's attack began to expand, and fire began to illuminate the sky. I had more than enough energy left, but I couldn't even move before creating a counterattack… I thought about breaking free with a Star Burst, but Lizzie would be badly hurt from the close-range impact. Suddenly, I had an idea! I could-

_"I didn't want to have to fight seriously today…" _I heard Lizzie sigh to me. _"But enough is enough."_

She leaned backwards and grabbed Envy's head, swinging her legs right into her face. Envy screamed in surprise as she dropped us both to the ground. Lizzie jumped, and spun around, kicking Envy in the chest, sending her plowing through the ground, about twenty feet away. Then Lizzie turned around, and held her arms out in front of her.

**_"Blizzard Winds!" _**she commanded. A gigantic wave of snow and air circled around her, swirling and growing rapidly. She launched herself into the sky at Envy's fire attack, and spun around. **_"Freezing Roar!"_** she cried, as a long ice whip materialized in her hand. As she spun, the whip began to form a majestic ice dragon.

**_"Go!" _**she finished, striking the dragon whip at the flaming sky. The ice dragon rocketed high into the air, and spread out its frozen wings, letting out an earth-shaking roar, which blasted Lizzie's winds across the sky, consuming the fire completely. The atmosphere around us became chilly and misty.

I just stood there with my mouth open as Lizzie landed slowly in front of Envy, who looked up at her in fear. _"What are you?" _she asked, shaking.

Lizzie smiled. "I'm just a human girl with Charconian powers." Her expression changed entirely, becoming more serious. "God gave me these abilities to rid the world of evil like _you_. And that is exactly what I am going to do."

She extended her hand, shining a bright light in Envy's face. "I know Leo is watching us from wherever he is," she continued. She looked around her. "So Leo, if you can hear me, I want you to know, that what I just did was _nothing._" I wondered if she was bluffing to scare him, but a closer look at her determined face told me that this was the truth. I had never even seen William use just two ice attacks together so well.

"If this is a grudge against me, then stop putting my friends in your line of fire! If I did anything to make you upset, I'm sorry. But take your anger out on me! Come and get me!"

Envy started doing something behind her back as Lizzie tried to talk to Leo. "I don't understand what changed you..." Lizzie continued. She turned back to Envy. "You have no power here, demon."

Envy grinned. _"Is that so?" _She grabbed Lizzie's arm, and began to drain tons of white energy from her chest.

Lizzie fell to the ground, motionless, a look of shock on her face. "What are you doing?!" I cried, flying towards Envy. She put her hand up, and I slammed into it hard. It felt like running into a wall.

Everything became blurry as I saw Envy turning black, and growing bigger and taller. **"No power, huh?" **the new creature taunted Lizzie, as she struggled to get back up. It grabbed her by the waist with one hand, and began to charge a red glow in the other.

It was going to kill her! I had to do something. I tried to stand, but I could still barely see from the impact. I shook my head, trying to clear my vision, but I only felt dizzier.

**"How do you feel now, Lizzie?" **it asked as it held her up in the air, ready to finish her off. **"I have all of ****_your_**** power, your little friend is too disoriented to save you, and the rest of your little team is nowhere to be found." **Lizzie struggled for a second, but then seemed to give up, whispering something to herself. She was going to die, and it was my fault…

**"How does it feel?" **the creature cackled again, shaking Lizzie wildly. She looked it in the eyes, and smiled.

"It feels good."

A bright white light exploded from Lizzie's body, restoring my sight, and somehow, its intensity leveling the entire city, tearing the creature apart. **"This… is not over." **the voice called, as the body slowly faded away, turning to dust.

I stared at Lizzie for a while as the smoke cleared. How did she always manage to surprise everyone like that? It was as if her power was endless…

She smiled at me. "Thanks for being there to help me, Hannah," she said. "I think we make a great team."

I nodded uncertainly. "Um, what exactly just happened?"

Lizzie laughed, shaking her head. "I'll explain everything," she smiled. "I think we all need an explanation." William said, landing behind her, looking around at the chaos. Pearl and Chris landed next to me.

"Hey guys," Lizzie said happily. William looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thanks," she laughed. "I feel a lot better."

"That's great," Chris said. "But where are Wally and Artemis?" I looked around. "Oh no…" I sighed.

"It's okay," Lizzie said, lowering them from the sky on a platform of ice. How did she-? Well, it wasn't really too much of a surprise. She seemed to have had everything under control.

Pearl shook her head. "But what caused all this…this…"

"Destruction." Lizzie and I said at the same time. She smiled at me. "Envy took on a new black armored form called Destruction. I couldn't see it very well since it almost killed me, but that's what it was…"

William's eyes opened wide. "Lizzie, the old Charconian chant!

Gray is for Sadness, when I want to cry,

Red is for Anger that burns inside,

Green is for Envy, when I want more—"

Lizzie nodded slowly. "And Black is for Destruction, when all burns to the floor."


End file.
